Fire tore through a Harlow sausage factory in Essex, England early on Tuesday morning. It is just one more food processing plant that has burned to the ground in the past few weeks.
Fire erupted at a sausage factory in Harlow, a town in Essex, sending dense orange smoke billowing high into the sky on Tuesday morning. The fire broke out around 5:20 A.M at the plant where overnight employees were still working. Dozens of firefighters responded to the burning building in an attempt to salvage the plant but by time they arrived the building was 95% on fire and 100% smoke-logged.
Those living nearby have been urged to avoid the area, with smoke seen for miles.
“Fire crews rapidly responded by increasing the resources we deployed to this incident but because of the nature of the contents within the building – a lot of cardboard, wooden pallets, and plastics – the fire got hold very quickly.”
Her husband, who also worked at the factory, was still on site. Thankfully he and everyone else survived. “Everyone is outside, everyone is fine,” she said. “The latest is my husband told me one of the buildings is now gone.”
The fire was contained to the building and 70 firefighters had tackled the blaze at its peak, according to BBC.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
The blaze broke out at Riverway Foods on River Way in Harlow at 05:20 BST.
Dorottya Spanyik said her husband had been working at Riverway Food when the fire alarms sounded.
“The fire was massive… you could see and feel the smoke all around Harlow,” Dorottya panyik said. “My husband works there, he was there when the fire started before 6 am. I’m not sure who alerted the fire brigade because the whole night shift was still there when the fire alarms went off.”
She said her husband has not been told when he will be able to return to work and is safe but ‘stressed’. “‘They have no idea (when he will return), the fire was really big, and even when he left the firefighters were still working to stop the fire. He is home now and luckily no personal injury, but he is very stressed.”
No injuries have yet been reported relating to the fire.
